3 state high court justices make case to stay on bench, despite GOP efforts to unseat them

Jane Musgrave @pbpcourts

Friday

Sep 28, 2012 at 12:01 AMSep 28, 2012 at 10:59 PM

Three justices of the Florida Supreme Court brought their traveling road show to Palm Beach County on Friday, campaigning to persuade business leaders that an unprecedented effort to unseat them threatens democracy.

Speaking before a breakfast meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches, Justices R. Fred Lewis, Peggy Quince and Barbara Pariente said a Republican-backed effort to remove them from office in November is a dangerous step back in time to when judges traded favorable decisions for political favors.

"You need to go to court, knowing that the judge has no other agenda other than to look at the merits of the case," Quince told the crowd of roughly 200. "You may not agree with every decision but you should be able to say I was before a judge who was fair and impartial."

Pariente, who served on the West Palm Beach-based 4th District Court of Appeal before being appointed to the high court in 1997, agreed. "The judicial branch is designed to have judges who are not beholden to special interests, who are not beholden to who pays them the most money," she said.

Their comments, echoed by Lewis, came a day after the Florida Republican Party followed up on announced plans to work to unseat the justices by releasing a blistering statement, blasting the three as left-leaning partisans. A group bankrolled by multi-billionaire tea party backers, David and Charles Koch, joined the chorus of right-wing discontent, releasing TV and Internet ads that claim the justices robbed Floridians of the right to reject the mandates of the federal Affordable Health Care Act.

"The Florida Supreme Court removed the amendment from the ballot, denying us a voice and a vote on an historically important issue," a voice intones in the ads produced by Americans for Prosperity. "Shouldn’t our courts be above politics and protect our rights to choose?"

Speaking to The Palm Beach Post editorial board after the chamber breakfast, the three justices said they didn’t yank the issue from the ballot because they didn’t like it. The summary for the amendment said it "would ensure access to health care services without waiting lists," and "protect the doctor-patient relationship."

Even the state conceded that the actual amendment didn’t say anything about waiting lists or doctor-patient relationships, Lewis said.

"If you write an amendment that is not misleading, we don’t intervene," Pariente said.

Further, if no one objects, the high court never reviews a proposed amendment. In the case of the proposed health care referendum, four citizens challenged it as a political sales pitch. The high court was forced to follow the law that says referendum questions can’t mislead voters, Lewis said.

He said he has voted to put Constitutional amendments on the ballot — most notably a 2002 measure that protects pregnant pigs — and voted against it at the ballot box. "We don’t support a position," Quince added.

Before Florida switched to the merit retention system in 1976, there was concern statewide that judges were buckling to political winds, Lewis said. A Fort Pierce native, Justice David McCain, resigned in 1975 after an investigation found political supporters paid him $10,000 to lobby a lower court to overturn a gambling conviction. McCain was hardly unique, Lewis said.

Instead of running for office, justices and appeals court judges are appointed by the governor after being vetted by a committee. Then every six years, they face merit retention at the polls — simple up or down votes. In 36 years, no judge has failed to win the 50 percent needed for keep his or her job.

But, in 2010 after a small group of tea party activists launched an Internet campaign, Justice Jorge Labarga, a former Palm Beach County circuit judge, got the lowest approval in state history. Conservative groups promised to launch a more concerted effort this year against the three justices who were appointed by former Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles. Quince, was jointly appointed by former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.

Knowing the justices would be targeted, lawyers and others have pumped more than $300,000 into each of their campaign war chests. Quince, who like the other justices has never had to actively campaign, said she is happy to face voters under the merit retention system.

"We’re not outraged that we’re on the ballot," she said. "We just want to make sure it isn’t about a particular decision. Judges have to make unpopular decisions all the time."

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